Experimental research on the cooling performance of a new regenerative dew point indirect evaporative cooler

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation of a new regenerative dew point indirect evaporative cooler that uses a polymer plant fibre composite material and a pure counter-flow heat exchange structure. The wet bulb efficiency, dew point efficiency and cooling capacity of the cooler were tested and analysed under various working conditions, such as a dry area, moderate humidity area and high humidity area conditions in an enthalpy laboratory. The experimental results show that the wet bulb efficiency reaches 105.6% and the dew point efficiency reaches 76% under standard drying conditions (dry-bulb temperature of 38 °C and wet-bulb temperature of 23 °C) and when the secondary air/primary air volume ratio is equal to 1.1, the cooling capacity is 2.83 kW, the dry-bulb temperature drop can reach 15.2 °C. Simulating the experimental results of the working conditions of Urumqi and a standard dry environment shows that the application of dew point indirect evaporative cooling technology in hot and dry areas has great advantages and broad application prospects. • The cooler is made of polymer plant fiber composite material, which has high-efficiency hydrophilicity. • The cooler is a pure countercurrent heat exchange structure to improve the heat and mass transfer efficiency. • The performance of the cooler under different environmental parameters was studied experimentally. • The experimental results show that the wet bulb efficiency reaches 105.6% and the dew point efficiency reaches 76% under standard drying conditions.